GENEVA / DRC ELECTIONS APPEAL

18-Jan-2019
00:01:02

Ahead of the expected ruling of the DR Congo’s Constitutional Court on the recent presidential elections the United Nations human rights office called on all sides "to seek to resolve the situation through dialogue and not to resort to violence.” UNTV CH

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1. Exterior shot, Palais des nations
2. Wide shot, press room
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Ravina Shamdasani, spokesperson, Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR):
“And once again, what we have said before is that we appeal for calm, whenever the results are announced. We have already seen that there has been quite a bit of tension and even violence. I’ve just received reports from colleagues this morning, that apparently since the 10 January announcement of the provisional results, the UN joint human rights office in the country has documented at least 34 deaths, 59 people wounded and 241 arbitrary arrests in the DRC. Two-hundred and forty arbitrary arrests, so that’s: So that’s 34 deaths, 59 wounded and 241 arbitrary arrests. So, we are very concerned about this and we call on all sides to seek to resolve the situation through dialogue and not to resort to violence.”
4. Wide shot, press room

STORYLINE

Ahead of the expected ruling of the DR Congo’s Constitutional Court on the recent presidential elections the United Nations human rights office called on all sides "to seek to resolve the situation through dialogue and not to resort to violence.”

Ravina Shamdasani, spokesperson for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) told reporters in Geneva Friday (18 Jan) “once again, what we have said before is that we appeal for calm, whenever the results are announced.”

According to Shamdasani the OHCHR has “just received reports from colleagues this morning, that apparently since the 10 January announcement of the provisional results, the UN joint human rights office in the country has documented at least 34 deaths, 59 people wounded and 241 arbitrary arrests in the DRC. Two-hundred and forty arbitrary arrests, so that’s: So that’s 34 deaths, 59 wounded and 241 arbitrary arrests.”

The OHCHR spokesperson said “ we are very concerned about this and we call on all sides to seek to resolve the situation through dialogue and not to resort to violence.”

The Congolese electoral commission known under its French acronym CENI declared that an opposition leader Felix Tshisekedi had received 38.5% of the vote and therefore won the elections.

Other opposition leader, Martin Fayulu won 34.7 percent. Ruling coalition candidate Emmanuel Shadary took 23.8%. Fayulu however, filed an appeal in the Constitutional Court on Saturday demanding a manual recount and alleged that Tshisekedi made a power-sharing deal with the ruling party.

The court could confirm Tshisekedi's victory, order a recount, or void the results altogether and call for new elections.